Chiyoku says:Sorry I took so long to update, I didn't realize so much time had passed, honestly….time flies, really. As a prize for you guys, I tried to include as much "Dumbledore, Weasley, and Sirius interaction in Grimmauld Place" as possible.

One thing, people seem to like the way I write Dumbledore and the Weasley's (or at least Molly), which I love, because I try to write them the way that I see them in canon. I keep remembering Molly screeching about "Muggles" and "platform 9¾" in the first book (which was suspicious). And Dumbledore screaming Harry's name in the fourth book when his name came out of the Goblet, and the freaky way he advanced on Harry afterwards, sheesh, talk about retardedly angry. I have this image in my head of a gigantic Dumbledore towering over a very small and intimidated Harry. Pisses me off. It's what inspires me to write Molly and Dumbledore the way I do. =P

As for Hermione, everyone seems to have conflicting views on her. So, we'll have to wait and see how it naturally develops. Obviously, Harry is definitely interacting with her, considering it's just them and the Malfoys most of the time, and they probably have them studying school subjects together under the same tutor. So you'll have to wait and see how that affects the story in the future.

Some people also commented on the Lestrange/Longbottom twist. Let me just say, I'm really happy to have come up with that twist. I happen to love Bella, but I also love Neville, and I think he's got tons of potential. So I needed an excuse to eventually get Bella and Neville on the same side, without it being…an awful betrayal on Neville's part.

oh, and to the person who asked about the poll: I meant "on his side" as in siding with him, not as a romantic pairing.

Sorry I couldn't answer everything you guys asked, though. Some things are part of the plot, others, I just don't know yet.

Enjoy!

Alternation Nation

A fanfiction by Chiyoku Shibata

Recap: Sirius has dinner with the Tonks family. The story of Nymphadora's name is finally explained, and the girl gets shamed into finally accepting it. Also, the real reason for why Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers attacked the Longbottoms. Sirius makes up with Kreacher, the house elf, and plots with him for when the Weasley's and Dumbledore visit. Later he visits the Malfoy's and then the next day Dumbledore tells him he received an anonymous threat against the Weasleys and wants them to move to Grimmauld Place as soon as possible.

Chapter22: Sirius and the Weasleys

On Christmas morning, Sirius Black woke up to several things that made him quite a happy man. The first one was a shrill voice screaming and arguing. Listening to that voice made him partly nostalgic and partly happy. Nostalgic, because it reminded him if his dear departed mother; happy, because the loud obnoxious arguing could only mean one thing, the Weasley family was here.

With a smirk, he got up and got dressed for the day. When he got downstairs, there was Molly, arguing with Kreacher by the kitchen door, there was a pair of snickering twins, sitting at a long table filled up with a delicious morning feast; they were snickering at their mother, while filling up their plates with waffles. A tiny looking redheaded girl was sitting across from the twins, and she was eating a cupcake, while she stared at her mother.

As soon as Sirius walked into the room, Molly turned to look at him with a fierce glare and she stomped up to him. "Sirius Black, where were you all day yesterday? We were counting on you to be here to help us with the move! Because you were not here, we had to wait until early this morning before being able to get through the wards! And it's Christmas day! That is very irresponsible of you! You're not a child again, yet, Sirius Black, and I expect you to act like the adult you still are!" she shrieked, while before hitting his arm once. Then she scoffed, "or simply sell this house as soon as possible, and allow me to choose where we move, and then I'll simply be the mistress of our new home. Then you won't have to worry about silly adult things like responsibility."

"Sheesh, Merry Christmas to you, too, Molly." Said Sirius with an annoyed tone of voice.

Molly actually stopped short and blushed, "oh, you're right, I'm sorry. Merry Christmas, merry Christmas." She said, before hugging him close and patting him on the back.

"That's better. Merry Christmas, kids." Added Sirius, looking at the twins and Ginny, "I have presents to give you after breakfast, sitting under that depressing black Christmas tree with the white decorations that's in the sitting room…as for you, Molly, yesterday I was gone all day, and I'm fairly sure I had left word with Albus about it after he let me know that he was bringing you here. I did leave the floo open, but I distinctly remember telling Albus that I was having some trouble with the Wards. No one tried to contact me yesterday, when, as you say, you weren't able to get through the Wards. As for where I was, well, since I was betrayed by my best friend, and sentenced to Azkaban without a trial for ten years, I was way overdue for some adult fun, if you know what I mean. Of course, I could give you the name of the place I visited, it's not far, and they do have some males, too." Sirius lied, with a bright smile on his face.

Molly groaned and hit his arm again, "you are disgusting, Sirius Black. There are children present! Now, sit down and eat your breakfast. After that, you will order that demented house elf to allow me into the kitchen so I can start getting things ready for lunch. I don't even want to imagine the grime that must be in that kitchen. I'm half afraid to continue allowing my children to eat all this food. Also, you will allow me to change the Christmas decorations, and you will allow us into the bedrooms. I tried earlier, but my magic didn't work on the tree and there were was a ward on the staircase! I told the house elf to wake you up, but he refused!"

Sirius scoffed, and sat down to eat. He served himself some coffee, and a small pile of different foods, and watched with glee as Molly sat down, and served herself some tea. When she tried to grab a pancake, the plate shocked her. "What the Merlin!" she exclaimed, as she grabbed her hand hugged it to herself. The twins and Sirius laughed, and Ginny had a small smile on her face as she ate her third cupcake covered with cream.

"Who's responsible for this!" she exclaimed, and then narrowed her eyes when they all shook their heads, claiming ignorance.

She sniffed and tried to grab a plate with sausages, and she was shocked again. "What is going on!?" she asked loudly.

"I swear I don't know, Molly. Maybe it's part of the wards that I was telling you I had trouble with?" Sirius said, before resisting the urge to look around.

"We swear, too, mom." Said George.

"Yeah, all the damn time." Agreed Fred, before they both laughed.

"Well, then, what's going on? How can it be the Wards?" asked Molly, angrily.

Everyone shrugged, and kept eating, while Molly slowly started lightly touching plates to test what she could grab. There were some slices of white bread, and some green apples cut up in slices, and what turned out to be unsalted butter. It was the only things she managed to be able to grab without getting shocked. She wasn't even able to grab sugar or cream to put on her tea. She ate slowly, and sadly, while she stared at Ginny, Fred, George and Sirius eating delicious looking foodstuff. The bread was boring, especially with the unsalted butter, and the green apple was too bitter for her taste. Meanwhile, the twins moved from eating waffles to eating French toast, and it smelled delicious.

She sighed in relief when Dumbledore came through the floo, followed by Arthur and Ron. Dumbledore would be able to figure out what was going on with the plates. It didn't matter what they said, she still suspected either Sirius, or the twins, for this little shocking plates incident.

"Thank Merlin you're here, Albus!" exclaimed Molly as soon as she saw Dumbledore, before she walked over and hugged Ron really close and tight, "Ronnikin, so good to see you, Merry Christmas! I'm so happy you're out of that awful place! Where's Percy?" she asked looking around.

"Ah, he stayed behind with some friends." Answered Arthur.

"On Christmas morning? How could you let him?" shrieked Molly.

"Well, he'll be back later, Molly-wobbles, and with the mess of having to move here as a last minute thing…" answered Arthur.

"Molly," interrupted Dumbledore, "you looked rather distressed when we flooed in, is there a problem?"

"Oh, Albus, it's terrible. The plates are shocking me, my magic wasn't working on that dratted Christmas tree, and there was a ward on the staircase, I haven't been able to get Sirius to add me into the wards so I could get upstairs and set up." She explained.

Dumbledore frowned and looked around; Fred, George, Ginny, and Sirius were happily stuffing themselves with seemingly no problem. The problem showed itself, though, when Ron practically jumped on the table, and tried to grab a plate that had slices of a Christmas Yule Log, but he only got electrocuted for his trouble.

"Wha'…Sirius, do you know anything about this?" asked Albus with a serious tone of voice, while Molly and Arthur took care of Ron, who was shaking and having flashbacks to the treatment he received at the Sanitarium.

"Nope, not a clue. I told Molly that it might be the Wards." He said, while he accepted, from Fred, the plate that had shocked Ron, and served everyone at the table, who still only consisted of himself, the twins, and Ginny, a slice of Yule Log. They all started eating it happily, while Ron got up and glared in anger. "Why do they get to eat and I don't!?"exclaimed Ron in anger, hunger gnawing away at his stomach.

Dumbledore pulled out his wand and started casting detection spells on the table and the plates. Then he walked over to the Christmas tree, then to the stair, and to the kitchen door, after Molly said she hadn't been able to get in. A couple of minutes later he walked back into the dining room, and stroked his long beard, before saying "there seems to be a repelling ward of some type…"

"Ah, yes," nodded Sirius knowingly, as only just remembering, "It's definitely the wards, it's part of a measure that's been integrated into the house wards for some time now."

"Care to explain?" asked Dumbledore.

"Well, in simple terms, the house thinks of you as uninvited guests and is acting accordingly." He explained with a smirk, as he finished his coffee.

"What do you mean uninvited guests?" asked Dumbledore.

"Well, since technically, you, Albus, invited them, and not me, the house reads that as me, the new Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, being forced to have you in my home. So, there are some things you won't be able to do…" he added to his explanation.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Molly.

"Well, I don't know, really…I never really tried to invite anyone home… and my mother always had to approve of anyone that was invited…so, I guess, if you want to stay here, you'll have to find out the hard way…" he said, and laughed.

"For one thing," said Dumbledore, "it seems certain people can't eat certain foods, or meddle with certain things."

Sirius nodded, "that's right. Like I said, I don't really know how it works, yet… the wards haven't had a problem with the twins or Ginny, but they don't seem to approve of Molly, or Ron…at least when it comes to the food…"

"I wonder why," commented Albus, "the wards seem to accept the twins and Ginny, and not Ron… at least when it comes to the small feast here?"

Sirius shrugged, "can't help you there… there house seems to accept me as Lord, thank goodness, but there's a bunch of stuff about the wards and how to control them that I don't quite get yet. I think there was a book about it somewhere, but I haven't found it, yet."

"I could see about dismantling the wards for you, Sirius." Commented Dumbledore, to which Sirius responded by laughing loudly, "if you think you're powerful enough to dismantle the powerful and ancient wards of Black manor without bringing it down over our heads, and consequently destroying all my family's property, not to mention destroying one of the only places, where supposedly, the Weasleys just have to stay in order to stay safe because of the supposed mysterious threat you said they received." He chuckled a bit once more after saying that, and then added, "Then feel free."

Dumbledore coughed a bit, feeling embarrassed, "I suppose when you say it like that, it does seem rather foolish. Well, we'll just have to help you look for the book while we clean up the house, right Molly?"

"Right you are, Albus! This place is absolutely filthy, disgusting, I can't have my babies staying here like this. It's much too dangerous." Said Molly.

"Well, it'll have to wait until after the holidays." Said Sirius, "I have no plans of cleaning during Christmas, and Boxing Day."

Molly listened to Sirius, and then said, "well, I suppose the dining room is clean enough to celebrate in…"

"Speaking of which, I have a couple of gifts for the kids here." Commented Sirius, standing up and smiling.

"Really?" asked Molly, surprised, then she added, "I have to distribute gifts, too. Wait, what are we doing about the food situation?"

Sirius shrugged, "I suggest take-out. Ready, kids?"

They all nodded excitedly, even Ron, and they followed him into the dingy parlor where a creepy looking 7 foot tall black Christmas tree stood.

"You first Molly, since you said you had gifts." Commented Sirius.

"Right…" said Molly, before summoning a couple of packages out of her luggage. She gave everyone, including her husband, a lumpy package.

After opening them, they all found knit sweaters in different colors, with the first letter of their first name stitched onto them.

They all tried them on, and as usual, they were slightly too big, but they thanked her anyways.

Arthur gave Molly a box of Honeydukes chocolates, which she thanked him for, and then opened right away, happy to be able to finally eat something yummy on Christmas day, after being denied by the Wards from eating anything delicious from the table. Ron, who had also been denied by the Wards, also ate a couple of chocolates.

"Well, now it's my turn." Said Sirius, with a bright smile, after the Weasley's finished giving each other gifts, "I didn't really have time to shop, you know, but I did find some stuff here that I thought you'd like." He said, before handing Ginny a small box.

She opened it eagerly, and gasped, pulling out a necklace out of a small box. The rest of the adults, who had also followed everyone into the parlor, gasped as well.

"It's made out of white gold, and real diamonds and sapphires." Commented Sirius proudly.

The necklace itself consisted of a thick chain of white gold, decorated with a serpent, also made of white gold, hanging delicately, and covered with very small diamonds, giving it an odd magical glint. The serpent itself was delicately wrapped around a chunky Sapphire.

"You like?" asked Sirius with a smirk.

Ginny jumped from the floor, and hugged Sirius tightly, "thank you, thank you, thank you." She said happily.

Sirius chuckled, "you'll be interested to know, that the necklace has several charms in it. White gold and precious stones actually help absorb and strengthen the charms themselves. I think it's got an anti-theft, and a protection-for-the-wearer spell…and it can be made into a portkey, too, all you need to do is key it to you. In case of an emergency, you can use it to get away, and you can take up to one person with you." He explained to Ginny.

Dumbledore frowned, "don't you think it's a bit reckless to spend so much money on a necklace for a ten year old?"

"Aside from the fact that it's my money to spend as I please? I didn't actually spend any money, the Necklace is a family heirloom." Answered Sirius.

"Giving an innocent ten year old a Necklace that's probably cursed? Don't you think that's reckless?" amended Dumbledore.

"You really think I'd give a kid a cursed necklace, Albus? You really think that low of me?" asked Sirius, as Molly walked closer to Ginny to inspect the beautiful necklace.

"Oh, stop complaining, Albus," said Molly, "Sirius is free to give expensive gifts to whomever he wants." She said as she inspected the exquisite piece of craftsmanship.

"Yeah, Albus, stop ruining the day. It's Christmas." Exclaimed Sirius with frown, and he grabbed two packages from under the tree and gave one to Fred and the other to George.

The twins opened their gifts eagerly, and found they had both got a set of robes each. They looked very expensive, and they were super soft to the touch.

"There's one robe for like a classy party, and another for just daily life….you know, since you're in Hogwarts, maybe for Hogsmead weekends, or when you get a date." Explained Sirius with a wink, then he added, "of course, they've got some hidden pockets, and some spells woven into them…anti-wrinkle…auto-sizing…spill proof….dust proof…and of course, some charms to protect against some basic curses and hexes….nothing but the best for the Black family." He finished explaining, with a short laugh.

"Thank you very much." Answered Fred and George in unison, glad to finally have some new robes, for once, instead of hand-me-downs.

"Yes," said Arthur, "thank you, Sirius."

"Ah, shucks, it was no problem." Said Sirius.

"Hey, wait a minute! What about me!" exclaimed Ron, as he noticed there were no more presents under the tree.

Sirius frowned, "…that's right…I forgot about you…well, no one told me you were going to be here so…but, wait here a minute, I've got the perfect gift for you."

Sirius left for a minute, and came back holding a small package, and bearing a smile. Ron grabbed the package right out Sirius' hands, and tore into it with out, only to scream out and drop it when he finally finished opening it.

"What? What happened?" asked Molly, walking closer and kneeling down to grab the dropped package.

She grabbed it, opened it, and saw an exquisitely done necklace, with a spider hanging from it. "Sirius Black, how could you give a spider to my baby? How heartless are you?"

Sirius widened his eyes in seemingly in surprise, "what's wrong with it? I thought he'd like it, spiders are wicked, and boys love wicked things, don't they?"

Albus frowned in disappointment, "Sirius, I had thought your days of heartless pranks were over. To give someone their worst fear as a Christmas gift is low, even for you."

"His worst fear? Well, I didn't know that." Said Sirius, claiming ignorance, and crossing his arms across his chest.

"Don't pretend you didn't know!" shrieked Molly, as she hugged and petted a crying Ron, "You know very well that my little Ronniekin was in a Sanitarium all this time recovering from an attack by invisible you-know-whats!"

"Invisible spiders?" asked Sirius, and Ron cried a bit louder at the word spider.

"Yes! He had a mental breakdown! He never liked those ugly things, and then someone used his fear in an unwarranted attack against him!" exclaimed Molly in explanation.

The twins scoffed, "unwarranted? Hardly" said Fred.

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius, even though he already knew the whole story, and that's why he had given Ron that spider necklace.

"Well, Ron's the reason that Harry was unconscious, and had to be taken from school…. He's also the reason why that muggleborn was crying in the bathroom all day during Halloween when the Troll got into Hogwarts." Explained George, ignoring the 'shut up now' looks that he was getting from Dumbledore and Molly.

"Well, considering that both Harry and Hermione ended up being pulled from Hogwarts, and have to wait until the next school year before they can come back, I think a little breakdown is a fitting punishment, don't you think? Besides, it also explains why the Wards rejected him. Ron dislikes Harry, who's my godson, and related to the Black family through his grandmother. The Wards can probably detect how he feels about Harry, and that's why he couldn't grab any food of off the table." commented Sirius, giving Dumbledore a look with a raised eyebrow, and crossed arms.

"Considering all the time you spent in Azkaban," said Dumbledore, "one would think you would want to hear the whole story before passing judgment, Sirius. The boys exaggerate, in both cases, it was simple schoolboy shenanigans, and they were equally instigated. Neither side is fully innocent in the matter, so after all this, I think we can easily sweep this under the rug." Said Dumbledore, subtly changing the subject. He needed Sirius to like Molly, Ron, and the rest of the Weasley's so as to make Harry's future friendship with them easier to start, therefore, going into Ron's attitude problems, and his fault in Harry and Hermione's health problem was not a productive way to accomplish that.

"You know, Ron here is going to need tutors as well." He continued, "He won't be able to go back to school until next school year, either. So he's going to need to catch up, I hope you'll be able to get him to study with little Harry once we get him back?"

"Sure, he can study with Harry and Hermione… although, I do believe Ron is much more behind in his studies in comparison." Agreed Sirius.

"Did you say…Hermione?" asked Dumbledore in a low voice, the last thing he needed was a brat getting in between his plans to make Harry friends with the Weasleys.

"Oh, yes, I talked to my lawyer yesterday, who spoke with the Malfoys, and they agreed to allow Hermione to come here along with Harry. Once school starts back up, and Harry comes here to live with me, she'd be left alone there. Apparently, Harry and Hermione have been studying together, and they are quite well acquainted." Explained Sirius with an easy smile.

"And you didn't ask me about this before doing it because…" commented Dumbledore, his voice filled with annoyance.

"Why should I have? First of all, it's my house. Secondly, it's a big house. Thirdly, you're Albus Dumbledore, self-appointed leader of the light, you're telling me you have a problem with me rescuing a young muggleborn from the clutches of the evil Malfoys?" asked Sirius, his tone filled with annoyance, at first, only to finish his point in an almost sarcastic manner.

Dumbledore, of course, had nothing to say to that.

The rest of the day passed by nice and quiet, for the most part, except for a few Molly related annoyances.

After Sirius was forced to pretend to figure out how to allow them to use the stairs, he was subjected to a lecture by both Molly, and Dumbledore, when Molly tried to go into the Master bedroom with her luggage, only to have a ward on the door prevent her entrance. When she tried to force her way inside, the door shocked her, and Sirius had to explain that the wards were at fault.

"Just because I was able to allow you use of the stairs, doesn't mean I managed to key you into the wards themselves." Explained Sirius with a shrug.

After that, she tried to go into the second biggest bedroom, only to have the same thing happen as before. The ward prevented her entrance into the room, and shocked her if she tried harder.

She ended up being able to get into what seemed to be two empty, abandoned, bedrooms. Both were dark, dingy and overall creepy; the dirt seemed to be caked on everything. She spent an hour or so in each bedroom, with Albus, Arthur, and Ron, whom she said had to help because he was rusty with his wand and had to help. After an hour, and about a dozen different cleaning spells and charms cast, the rooms only barely seemed any different. The people, however, were a different story. They were all covered with dirt, dust, and who knew what else.

They all took turns using the only bathroom that the wards allowed them to enter, a small, unsanitary, bathroom with a toilet, a sink, and a showerhead, but with no bidet or bathtub. Albus, Molly, Arthur, and Ron, all took showers, but they had to suffer through cold water, because the shower faucet wasn't cooperating with any of them. First the water was boiling hot, then it was the perfect temperature for about a minute, after which it would turn icy cold.

By the time they all finished showering, they were somewhat clean, but tempers were running short. Dumbledore was regretting allowing Sirius to remain alive, instead making sure the boy died of sickness in Azkaban. And Molly was on a rampage, insulting anything, and everything, but especially, Black Manor, which she seemed ready to either force Sirius to sell, or burn to the ground; she wasn't sure which, yet.

"I tried to explain before, didn't I?" asked Sirius, thoroughly exasperated. "The wards are complex; they don't read you as welcome guests or something… that's why you couldn't grab food of the table, and that's why you couldn't go into some of the bedrooms. Maybe the wards don't like your attitude, Molly. Or yours, Albus, and that's why they're being difficult."

"I beg your pardon!" exclaimed Molly.

"The Lord of the House of Black is supposed to be me, but you people came into my home, acting like it's rightfully yours and trying to be in charge of everything. I'm the one that was supposed to invite you to stay here if I felt like it, not Albus." Explained Sirius, angered, but managing to hide most it, then he continued, "The wards probably read that the decision to have you here was forced on me."

He breathed almost harshly several times, and then added, annoyed, "And what's with trying to claim the biggest bedrooms for you and your family? This is my home! The master bedroom is mine, and the second biggest is Harry's. For that matter, the third biggest will be Hermione Granger's. You can use the rest of the bedrooms, if you can even get in them, to house your brood. No wonder the house wards are reveling against you, you have no manners!"

Dumbledore went stiff, his eyes cold, and when he noticed that Molly was too shocked to answer, he said, "I think you're going a little over the line here, Sirius. Maybe you should apologize; Molly has done nothing to deserve this treatment. Do you think it's easy to adjust to having to living in a Dark house like this one? And to have this happen during the Holidays?"

"Oh, done nothing, did she? First of all, don't think I don't know the real reason you decided they were safer here with me. You want them to keep an eye on me, especially now that I'm getting Harry! It's not like you couldn't have added some extra wards into their home. There's no real reason for them to be brought here, I don't even know them. And it seems like Harry doesn't either!" exclaimed Sirius.

"That's because he was somehow influenced into asking the hat to get sorted into Slytherin!" exclaimed Dumbledore.

"Oh, and I suppose you know that for a fact, do you?" asked Sirius, thoroughly annoyed and fighting to know say something he would regret. They were so close now to presenting Dumbledore with court papers. Lucius had informed Sirius of everything that they had gathered on Dumbledore, proof of all his illegal activities in relation to all things Harry Potter, including the little surprise of how much money in royalties Dumbledore was being given by various companies that were using Harry's name, story, and likeness. But they were waiting until after the holidays to present the court papers to him, that way he'd be busy with all his responsibilities and with trying to keep himself out of Azkaban and it'd be easier to keep him away from Harry.

"As a matter of fact, the hat itself told me that Harry could have gone to another house." Commented Dumbledore.

"Oh, and I also suppose that Harry's the first student in the History of Hogwarts that could have gone to another house?" asked Sirius, before adding, "I also suppose that you took the Hat's vague comments that Harry could have gone to another house to mean that obviously he must have been influenced into asking for Slytherin?"

Before Dumbledore could answer, Molly interjected with her own opinion "the Potter's have always gone to Gryffindor! Everyone knows that! Poor Harry must be the first Potter in history to be sorted into Slytherin. The only reason for that must have been that he was influenced by that Malfoy brat before the sorting!"

Sirius laughed loudly at Molly's comment, before saying "shows what you know. Now, admittedly, I haven't had much free time to catch up on news, yet, but from what little I've been able to read, it seems to me that most of what's common knowledge about the Potter's, and the Potter Family History, is, for the most part, complete fabrication. I can see how it'd make for a good morale boost to invent a story about a historically light-sided, always in Gryffindor, family that have made it their business to always side with the leader of the light in battle against the darkness; however, it's just not true." He finished, with an almost mocking smile at Dumbledore.

Before anything else could be said, Kreacher popped in and announced that Remus Lupin was at the door, and then he muttered rudely under his breath about intruders, and fat blood traitors, before popping away.

Thank Merlin, thought Sirius to himself, while walking to the door, and proceeding to ignore Dumbledore.

"Remus! I'm so glad you're here! Merry Christmas!" exclaimed Sirius, while inviting Remus inside, and then hugging him close. "Seriously," he whispered to Remus while hugging him, "Molly and Dumbledore have been driving me even crazier than I already am, so you have no idea how glad I am to see you."

"Well, Merry Christmas, then, Sirius." Said Remus with a chuckle. Then as he walked further into the house, he saw Dumbledore and Molly standing next to each other. Molly looked angry, while Dumbledore had a small smile on his face, but it looked tight, forced, and his eyes lacked a twinkle.

Remus greeted them both with a smile and a hug, anyways, despite the tense atmosphere.

"I hope this isn't a bad time, I came to pick up Sirius; we had plans for dinner in muggle London." Commented Remus, as they walked further into the house.

The Weasley children, including Percy, who had been picked up by Arthur about an hour earlier, were all sitting on the floor playing a board game. Ron was stuffing himself on Chinese food, and soda, and the others were snacking on various crisps, and chocolates that Arthur had bought when he went to pick up Percy.

"Ah, we'll join you." Said Dumbledore, as if it was already decided.

"That's not necessary," stated Sirius, shaking his head, "thank you. We wouldn't want you to put yourselves at risk."

"At risk? Why?" asked Molly, looking slightly confused.

Sirius smirked, "that mysterious threat you supposedly received, remember? The reason why Dumbledore is forcing your presence in my home?"

"Ah, right…yes, of course." Answered Molly, coughing and looking away.

Dumbledore, meanwhile, looked like he was seconds away from blasting the stupid, forgetful, woman away with a nasty curse. If only his closest, staunchest, allies weren't so slow, and stupid. The woman all but gave away that the threat against the Weasley's was a forgery; not that Sirius didn't already suspect it, but still.

"Yes, well, you all have fun, don't wait up." Said Sirius before walking out with Remus into the night.

From his home, they took a cab to Kensington Garden, before taking the subway at Queensway and switching routes until they made it all the way to Northfields, it was a good hour and a half of trip, between the cab, and subway. But they wanted to make sure no one was following them.

They had plans to spend Christmas night and Boxing Day at the Malfoy's with Harry. If it all worked out, and no one was the wiser, they planned to spend New Year's Celebration there as well. They were planning on using various spells, charms, and potions, to disguise themselves, of course.

The Malfoy's were planning a big New Year's celebration at their Manor home, and Sirius wanted to be there, mostly to be with Harry, but also to have fun, and work on devious plots with Narcissa and Lucius. Remus had wondered why they didn't just use polyjuice potion, but it would be too suspicious, since it had to be taken every hour. Besides, polyjuice potion was not the only way for a witch or wizard to disguise themselves. It was simply the easiest, and cheapest way; not to mention the only accepted and legal way.

Like it, or not, Sirius had tons of Dark Arts knowledge due to his upbringing. Well, thought Sirius to himself, as he approached Malfoy Manor, I suppose I should be grateful for it now, all things considered. He finished this thought just as Harry came walking towards him to greet him with a bright smile and a tight hug.

End Of Chapter

Chiyoku says: Well, that's it for now. I have several ideas for the next couple of chapters, so I'll do my best to not take so long next time. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and thanks in advance for reviewing! =D